Natalee W: What is the best horse hoof and weight gain supplement for horses.?
I bought a 16+ hand thoroughbred at a local horse sale. She is sound but she has typical thoroughbred feet. They are dry and cracking. What is the best thing to give her to get her feet nice and healthy? Also she is quite a bit underweight. I think she must just be a hard keeper. What is the best thing to give her to get her to put some weight on?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Solstice
There’s a lot of things to give a horse for weight gain / hoof care. I typically recommend Horseshoer’s Secret, but to each their own. In the sources, I put a website that compares and lists all the better quality supplements you can give your horse. They have hoof as well as weight gain and some others. Good luck! 🙂
Feed her rice bran. It has a higher fat content than any other feed, and you can feed it to them in bulk without having to worry about colic. It is about the only thing I’ve found that can put and keep weight on my 18 year old TB mare. (I feed 6lbs of it a day mixed with 6lbs of Senior for weight gain, I only do about a third of that for maintenance.)
A lot of people like to feed beet pulp. It helps too but it’s main function is as a source of digestible fiber. So it’s almost like giving them more forage, like grass hay, it’s just more digestible. But it’s not necessarily that high in fat. Beet pulp can actually be used as a source of fiber/roughage when no hay or grass is available.
Rice bran, on the other hand, contains a lot of calories from fat to put the weight on a horse. It has 1/3 more calories than beet pulp, by weight. (i.e. you’d have to feed 1.3 pounds of beet pulp to get the same calories as you’d get from 1 pound of rice bran). This is a big reason why I prefer it…it’s more cost effective. However, rice bran can have a mineral imbalance, so if you feed more than about 2 pounds of it, you should make sure a horse’s diet is supplemented with a mineral block and/or a complete feed (hence why I feed Senior as well–if you don’t think your horse is ready for Senior you could try Strategy.)
For hooves, I like Grand Hoof.
It also helps their coat!
Good luck!
Answer by shannonxxmichelleYour vet ought to be able to recommend a good weight and hoof supplement.
This is a very good hoof supplement. I know plenty of people who swear on it.
This is a very good weight supplement. I haven’t personally tried it, but I have heard good reviews about it.
Answer by horseluvvasomebody told me that seaweed is good for horses feet but i dont know if it is true or not!Answer by BeCkY!
i’d give biotin for her feet
and equi-jewel is brilliant for weight gain and condition
and an old tip i got was 3 boiled potatoes mashed a day and added to feed as long as its cooked its safe
it helped my horse a lot.Answer by pretzelathena
i would give her corn or rice bran oil and put her on a feed like safechoice or Omelene. Free choice hay would be great too.
For her feet and coat i feed Nu Image and i put Tuff Stuff on my TBs feet once a week. I have a typical chestnut TB with 4 white socks. Sensitive skin and sensitive white feet.Answer by Coalminers Girlfriend
Well for the underweight part I know what your going through, I bought a 17h TB gelding and he was underweight and I hvae had him for 5 months and he is just mow starting to show signs of weight gain. He gets fed a 5 gallon bucket of all grain feed, 2oz Red Cell, 1 scoop of stock powder, 7 alfalfa cubes (broken up), and 1 flake of hay a day. Plus he is turned out all day everyday, on about 7 acres of mountian land to roam as he pleases. I know that this sounds like a lot but he is bigger than the other horse so there for he has to be fed more. I was also giving him corn oil, and franam weight builder. If I was you I would get her started on a good worming schedule, I would most deffently worm her for tape worms.
On the hoof issue I have my horse shoed every 5 weeks. His feet stay really dry and cracked if he dont have shoes. Here is a hoof supplement.Answer by ashhart63
avoid oats, alfalfa, and corn. wrong kind of energy and sometimes unbalanced nutrition. these would be good though.. adult performance horse pellets, healthy cookies, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and biotin are all good. mix them together in a feed bowl. 🙂Answer by [email protected]
As far as her weight – have you had her teeth checked? I have found that shredded beet pulp that has been soaked with crimped oats, a good hay, and supplement should do the trick. A good overall supplement to put your horse in good health and not just target one area would be best. I feed a supplement made by Blueridge in Tennessee. They have a website or you can go to www.bluerb.com and look up the HP products. A good supplement should benefit both the weight and feet. What is nice about Blueridge is you get an original bucket with your horses name on it and dosage. Then each month you get a bag in the mail with the refill that you put in your bucket. You won’t end up with lots of extra buckets or smart pack recycle trash. Why waste all that plastic?
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